Vinnie DiGeronimo, found in Winchendon lake, remembered as "patriarch"

Tuesday

Jul 16, 2013 at 6:00 AMJul 16, 2013 at 12:15 PM

By Paula J. Owen, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

WINCHENDON — Vincent J. DiGeronimo, known to his friends as "Vinnie," lived on Lake Monomonac for 15 years and ran a marina in Cancun for several years, so his death Monday afternoon was a shock to friends and family.

The 63-year-old retired plumber was found floating in the lake around 1 p.m. Monday at his home at 5 Beachview Drive on Lake Monomonac on the New Hampshire border.

The experienced boater and swimmer was boating with friends in the 90-degree weather, according to his family and neighbors. When he arrived back at his home, he jumped into the water for a swim to cool down as he routinely did, they said.

Wife Cheryl DiGeronimo, 64, who was inside their home at the time, said when her husband's friends first saw him floating in the water, they thought he was joking around.

When emergency personnel arrived at the home — the last on the dead-end street — Mr. DiGeronimo was unresponsive, she said.

"He was boating with friends and upon returning he jumped into the water to cool down," Mrs. DiGeronimo said with tears in her eyes. "They looked over and he was doing the dead man's float. They thought he was fooling around. I didn't see him until they were down there doing mouth-to-mouth on him."

Known to his family as "Jimmy," he was the oldest of 12 children — eight of them boys — who grew up in Leominster.

His twin sisters Joyce Hardell and Janice Paquette from Leominster, who are the youngest of the siblings, said their brother was the patriarch of the family and took care of everyone.

Ms. Hardell said she believes her brother had a heart attack in the water. An autopsy is pending, she said.

He was close to his three adult sons, who do not live in the area, they said, and loved all his nieces and nephews.

"He treated us like we were his kids," Ms. Hardell said, sitting in the large living room with cathedral ceilings in her brother's home overlooking the lake. "He took care of all of us. He was the patriarch of a large Italian family. He didn't judge people. He loved everyone."

And, those who knew him loved him back, the women said.

"He was a great guy," Mrs. DiGeronimo said. "He liked doing favors more than he liked getting them. He was a traditional Italian man who took care of me."

Ms. Hardell said her brother was a nature and animal lover who loved the sun. He also looked after his neighbors on the lake, the women said — including the furry ones.

"He was known as the 'treat guy,' " Mrs. DiGeronimo said. "All the neighbors' dogs would come here to see him for treats."

A few months ago, the couple adopted a black cat named Thumbelina, though Mrs. DiGeronimo said her husband would always tell her, "no cats." After adopting the feline, he spoiled it, she said, filling the couple's living room floor with cat toys.

He also quickly changed its name to "George," she said.

"He would always say, 'All cats are named George, and all dogs are named Fred,' " she said.

The DiGeronimos loved to travel, taking frequent trips to South America and the Caribbean.

Years ago, before it closed down, Mr. DiGeronimo ran the Elbow Lounge in Leominster, which his father owned, and he owned a pizza shop, marina and travel agency in Cancun, Mrs. DiGeronimo said, before they married 14 years ago.

Another passion of Mr. DiGeronimo's was Italian cooking and sharing what he made, his family said.

"He loved to cook, but he didn't give me any of his recipes," his wife said. "He made a great Italian sauce I don't have the recipe for."

"He would get up at 5:30 in the morning and drive to Leominster to give me muffins he made," Ms. Hardell said. "That is just how he was."

He would drop by with fresh Italian food he made from scratch for others, too, she said, including his "second father," Dick Fontaine, known as "Dick the Barber," who has run Dick's Barbershop in Leominster for decades.

"After his father died, Dick stepped up and took care of him," his wife said. "He was very close with him."

Neighbor Thomas Conrad, who lives a few houses up on Beachview Drive, said he let Mr. DiGeronimo use his driveway and boat launch to put his boat into the water a few months ago.

"He was a really nice man," Mr. Conrad said. "He had lots of friends and everyone in the neighborhood liked him."

He said the death left him with an eerie feeling because he had just lost a close friend and neighbor six months ago when Donald L. Willett Sr.'s Beachview Drive home caught fire, fatally trapping him. Mr. Willett and Mr. DiGeronimo were good friends, Mr. Conrad said.

"It seems like all my neighbors are dying," Mr. Conrad said.

Beachview residents said there have been other drownings on the lake within the last five years including 23-year-old Gregory P. Jette of Manchester, N.H., in 2008, and 59-year-old Jonathan Watkins of Hubbardston, in 2009.